NASA to launch spacecraft to study Moon’s atmosphere
Washington: NASA hopes to unravel the Moon’s mysteries by launching an unmanned mission to study its atmosphere.
The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) is to launch on Friday at 11:27 pm (Saturday 0327 GMT) aboard a Minotaur V rocket, a converted peacekeeping missile, from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Since US astronauts last walked on the moon four decades ago, rocket scientists have learned that there is more to the Moon than just a dusty, desolate terrain.
The Moon’s atmosphere is so thin that its molecules do not collide, in what is known as an exosphere.
Exploring that exosphere will be a USD 280 million solar and lithium battery-powered spacecraft about the size of a small car, nearly eight feet (2.4 meters) tall and five feet (1.85 meters) wide.
After launch, LADEE aims to hurtle itself beyond Earth’s orbit so it can circle the Moon, first cruising at a height of about 250 kilometers in just over a month, and then moving lower to 20 to 60 kilometers from the surface for the science portion of its mission.
It is carrying an Earth-to-Moon laser beam technology demonstration and three main tools, including a neutral mass spectrometer to measure chemical variations in the lunar atmosphere and other tools to analyze exosphere gasses and lunar dust grains, NASA said.
“These measurements will help scientists address longstanding mysteries, including: was lunar dust, electrically charged by solar ultraviolet light, responsible for the pre-sunrise horizon glow that the Apollo astronauts saw?” NASA said.
Other instruments will seek out water molecules in the lunar atmosphere.
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